1970's Wood Strips on Wall

Our house had that diagonally glued-on wood strips that were popular in the '70's in the powder room and one big 2-story wall in the entry. In the powder room i tried removing it but it tore up the drywall so I bought some 1/4" and put it over the wood, the textured it and it worked fine. On that big wall the area is about 15' Wide by 20' high, and 1/4" drywall costs more than 1/2". I wonder if it would be just as easy to remove the wood and old drywall and start over with new 1/2"?

Any other ideas? Wish there was some other thin, light material I could use over the wood then texture and paint. There's some warpage, knots and enough gap between them that a fabric or wallpaper won't do it.